“That’s not good enough,” Corbett said Wednesday during a press briefing at the Governor’s Residence with Acting Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq.

Enter the Opening Doors initiative.

Launched two years ago, the dropout prevention campaign’s latest component is the Early Warning System.

The $1.5 million secure, web-based program flags at-risk middle schoolers based on attendance, behavioral and academic performance data already entered into electronic gradebooks by their teachers.

No state funding – only private and federal grants – is involved. The state also will not see or collect the information, Dumaresq said.

In addition to Harrisburg, the pilot program is underway in Erie, Lancaster and Albert Gallatin Area School District, Fayette County.

After Wednesday’s news conference was wrapping up at the Governor’s Residence, PennLive also spoke to Harrisburg Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney and Erie City School District Superintendent Jay Badams who were at the Hilton at Harrisburg for the Pennsylvania League of Urban Schools.

Five takeaways:

1. For Susan Corbett, this is personal and practical.

Corbett recalled two students she couldn’t quite reach while explaining her motivation for her Opening Doors initiative.

Bullying and intellectual struggles had one, while still in his freshman year, counting the days until he could drop out.

The other was a “brilliant poet” whose horrific home life had landed her in a delinquent school for girls.

“I wish I could have been experienced enough to help them,” she said. “In many ways, this initiative and its direction is impacted by that experience I had years ago.”

Corbett also noted the economic hardship that results.

Without a high school diploma, people are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed, serve prison time and require social services. Over their lifetimes, they typically earn $1 million less over their peers with college degrees and instead cost the public sector $209,100 in penal and public assistance systems expenses.

2. The methodology is targeted and research-based.

Drop-outs start showing signs of disengagement during middle school. At that age, they are young enough to potentially address that behavior and change course – and do, more often than not.

Johns Hopkins University School of Education researcher Robert Balfanz found that without intervention, 75 percent of children who showed signs of disengagement at that age went on to drop out of high school.

Just 20 percent did so when they had intervention.

Balvanz's research is the foundation of many Early Warning System programs already in place in other school districts nationwide.

3. Fewer students would slip through the cracks with this program, it seems.

Teachers are in the habit of monitoring students for signs of problems beyond test scores. Digitizing and automating that process makes it faster, more comprehensive and less subjective.

“Our teachers have always done a lot of the monitoring, but they’re but also under pressure to meet academic standards,” Badams said. “It doesn’t take that away the responsibility, but provides a better tool so it’s less likely the child would slip through the cracks."

4. Intervention catalog distinguishes this program.

Some districts in Pennsylvania and other states already have digital, data-driven student intervention systems in place.

But this one provides teachers with customized referrals to resources within the school system and surrounding community.

“We all have data systems, but it wouldn’t be so much of a leap forward if there also wasn’t a catalog of intervention,” said Badams. “It will show what intervention resources exist in our communities, and track … whether it’s been effective.”

Effectiveness would, generally, be determined by improvement in the behavioral, academic and disciplinary factors tracked by the system.

Then there’s the inclusion of students’ photos – something that Badams said he thinks “puts more of a moral urgency on [teachers].”

“All of the students are there, on a list with their picture and a catalog of intervention, and it’s all on you – what do you do with it?” Badams said. “I think great process for us.”

5. By doing the early test-runs, Harrisburg, Erie and other pilot districts can inform program structure – although flexibility is intended to be a fixed feature.

In Harrisburg, only Knight-Burney and middle school principals have engaged with consultants so far. The process is so early on, Knight said, that teachers haven’t been officially notified of the new program. Not mentioned in the district’s Act 141 recovery plan, it was news to other administrators and school board members reached Wednesday.

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